


Force Ghosts

by Isaya



Series: Advent Calendar 2018 [5]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Gen, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2019-09-12 10:46:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16871515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Isaya/pseuds/Isaya
Summary: After watching over Luke at the celebration on Endor Obi-Wan, Yoda and Anakin wake up in the past.





	Force Ghosts

**Author's Note:**

> I guess I have a thing for time travel fics.

Darth Vader snapped awake and immediately started gasping for air, choking, panicking. He needed air but his breathing apparatus was not working and he had not been able to breath properly for over two decades.

It was too silent. He could not hear the hum of technology that came with being on the Executor or other ships – or on a space station like the Death Star. He couldn’t hear anything apart from the absence of technology.

There was no air.

Everything went dark.

XXX

There was no easing out of meditation, no calm return to himself. Something had felt strange in the Force, something he could not describe nor recognize nor quantify. He had not expected much of anything to be able to surprise him still; not since becoming one with the Force.

One moment he had been standing there, alongside Obi-Wan’s and Anakin’s Force ghosts watching Luke celebrating on Endor when his eyes suddenly snapped open and he was at the temple.

Was their work done? Had they (he) unknowingly let go of the last remnants of his presence and fully embraced the Force like he had not completely before?

The temple felt real.

So many Jedi.

So many Jedi _alive_.

And the Force was so light.

The Force was not yet tainted.

There were the slightest traces of Darkness – traces that they used to think were ancient Sith temples. And some of them surely were – but were all of them?

To him, the Force sang.

_There was still time._

XXX

Ben jolted awake.

_Ouch._

He rubbed his forehead. There was a reason he strongly disliked the bunks on the old ships from his time as a Pada--- wait. He was no Padawan. He was _dead._ Surely being dead shouldn’t hurt? And why would the Force show him a vision of a generic bunk to hit his head in?

He froze.

Something was wrong. He could not feel the Force – not the way he had since his death. What had happened?

The force felt vibrant, teeming with life. _So much life._ Too much life. It was overwhelming and he struggled to separate himself from the echoes of so many … He had let go of his shields and opened himself to the Force in the moments before he died – being one with the Force had never felt like this.

It was _too much_. It echoed. And echoed. And echoed.

He slammed his shields up.

And breathed.

The Force was warm in a way it hadn’t been for years.

He blinked.

_The way it hadn’t been for years?_

He had stood with Anakin and Yoda. There’d been the phantom of a tug, maybe, before he’d suddenly hit his head.

A ghost could not hurt its head; not even a Force ghost. So, how…?

XXX

The second time he woke, he felt soothing hands rub his shoulders and a voice telling that everything was alright. That it had just been a dream and to just breathe.

It was a familiar voice, long forgotten. It sounded like _home_ which made no sense. He hadn’t had a home since… _her_.

He breathed.

He _breathed._

He was breathing on his own – how was that possible? Hadn’t he just died? He remembered watching over his son with Obi-Wan and Yoda… Had that merely been a fever dream?

He didn’t think it possible for Luke to have saved him – and quite honestly, he hadn’t wanted him to. He’d been _tired_. It was enough. He had made sure his son survived, that was all that mattered.

The voice kept talking.

It (she?) kept calling him Anakin.

Well, he supposed he might be Anakin again. He’d denied it for over two decades but he laid claim to Anakin’s so--- children. So maybe he wasn’t merely Darth Vader the Emperor’s slave anymore – not that it had been acknowledged as such.

Yes.

He was a person and _his name was Anakin._

 

**Author's Note:**

> Same Drill. No editing, no beta-ing, just spell-checked.
> 
> It's short but I didn't want to write more than first impressions. Maybe I'll write some other snippets for this verse (if one can call it a verse with just one ficlet so far) some other day. 
> 
> (And yes, Vader is Anakin again but he refused to think of himself as that for over 20 years so he'd probably struggle with not thinking of himself as Vader at first)


End file.
